· Private foundation
Robert Sonsteng Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k6 grants · $27k
- $10k–50k9 grants · $140k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| BENSON PUBLIC SCHOOLS | $50,000 |
| OUR REDEEMER'S LUTHERAN CHURCH | $29,000 |
| WEST ZION CHURCH | $25,500 |
| CITY OF BENSON | $15,000 |
| SWIFT COUNTY FAIR ASSOC | $15,000 |
| BENSON AREA CARES 4 KIDS | $13,000 |
| BENSON PUBLIC SCHOOLS | $12,000 |
| J & J'S TINY TEACHER | $10,000 |
| SUNBURG AMBULANCE SERVICES | $10,000 |
| OUR REDEEMER'S LUTHERAN CHURCH | $10,000 |
| SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS CHURCH | $8,600 |
| Individual grant recipient | $7,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $5,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $4,500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $1,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY21–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 5% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
7 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2024, 1 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 67% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $71k went to new ones.
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- BPBENSON PUBLIC SCHOOLS3× · 2021–2024 · $127k
- SCSWIFT COUNTY BENSON HOSPITAL2× · 2021–2023 · $100k
- OROUR REDEEMER LUTHERAN CHURCH3× · 2021–2024 · $53k
Funded once
- MSMINI SOTA AG MUSEUMone grant, 2023 · $30k
- EZEAST ZION LUTHERAN CHURCHone grant, 2021 · $10k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2021 · $5k
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
1 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 1 of the 22 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Robert Sonsteng Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Robert Sonsteng Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Robert Sonsteng’s filings →